Posted by
Rich on Monday, February 04, 2008 8:22:35 AM
The Sarasota Herald-Tribune's editorial board reveals its reading
habits and prejudices in their editorial "A test for product safety
chief - Lobbyists and industry representatives should not qualify."
The
Herald-Tribune refers to the Washington Post, a bastion of liberal
thinking, which was outraged that any government official would
question increasing the budget for their department or the contents of
a Senate bill prepared by Democrats. When Nancy A. Nord did both of
these she was pilloried by the Washington Post, New York Times,
Reuters, CBS and of course PBS.
If all of these liberal media outlets are against her then she must be doing something right. Go Nancy!
Well
then the Herald-Tribune shows its prejudice against "lobbyists and
industry representatives" being named to replace Nancy as interim Chief
of the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Let me see, the
Herald-Tribune does not want anyone who has real world experiences
with, has worked in or knows anything about the manufacturing industry
to run the Commission. But they are more than happy to have President
Bush appoint someone who hates or certainly intensely distrusts the
manufacturing industry to Chair the Commission. They also want more
money, more oversight and more regulation. Right...
As we pointed out in a previous
column
- how about with product safety we allow entrepreneurs to solve this
problem. We currently have in other industries independent private
sector non-profit organizations that look at products and services. We
have the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval, Underwriters Laboratories
Inc., National Safety Council, Insurance Institute for Highway Safety,
and Consumer Reports to name just a few.
Maybe we get the toy
industry to expand its current efforts and create an independent
non-profit corporation or support organizations such as
W.A.T.C.H and
HealtyToys.org
that focus on toy safety. I have seen on Fox News where several toy
retailers have purchased infrared lead paint detectors and will test
toys for their customers for free. Talk about great ideas!
We
believe that less government is good for consumers. Let consumers via
their pocketbooks determine good products from bad products. We
consumers are the best ones to determine if a product is safe for our
children with the help of our local business owners, who have a vested
interest in making sure what they sell is both needed and safe.
Milton Friedman, American Economist, said it best, “Many people want the government to protect the consumer. A much more urgent problem is to protect the consumer from the government."